Suspend Your Disbelief

Shop Talk |

Lisa Simpson's Book Club, Hamlet's iPod


So they’re not real—but they appreciate pop culture.

As a Simpsons geek, I was delighted to discover the Tumblr site Lisa Simpson’s Book Club, which is documenting all the works of literature referenced by the surprisingly literate second-grader on The Simpsons. The site features screengrabs of Lisa reading, along with quotes and comments about her reading material of choice—including both real books like Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, Grimms’ Fairy Tales, and On the Road as well as spoofs like the How, Why, and Huh? Book of Weather and The Babysitter Twins. But then, The Simpsons has always been literary.

Meanwhile, flavorwire imagines what Hamlet might have on his iPod:

“Paranoid” — Black Sabbath

We think Ozzy wrote this for Hamlet or something: “Finished with my woman / ’Cause she couldn’t help me with my mind / People think I’m insane / Because I am frowning all the time / All day long I think of things / But nothing seems to satisfy / Think I’ll lose my mind / If I don’t find something to pacify.”

“Starfuckers, Inc.” — Nine Inch Nails

Angry young man music about someone who sells their soul for power. Sound like anyone’s uncle we know?

Read the full list, hear the whole playlist, and see if you agree.

What literary characters’ bookshelves and iPods would you like to peek into? What would they be reading—or playing?


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